The California university is being accused of censorship after paying a firm to try to hide references to the incident in which police sprayed protesters in 2011

The incidence became a massive Internet meme at the time:

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Details of the attempt to remove references of the pepper-spraying incident were revealed by the Sacramento Bee, which reported that UC Davis hired a communications firm on a $15,000-a-month contract with a goal of eradicating “references to the pepper spray incident on Google”, including “negative search results” for Katehi.

The information was obtained through a Public Records Act request and is part of a broader investigation by the paper into Katehi’s affiliation with private corporate boards.

“It’s not surprising,” said Ian Lee, who was an 18-year-old freshman when he was pepper-sprayed during the peaceful protest. “It’s consistent with what [Katehi] has done and she should resign.”

“It bothers me because it’s personal,” he added. “Its a personal thing that changed my life. They’re trying to erase the history of resistance at UC Davis”.

Tom Zolot, who was a senior when he took part in the protest and was also hit with pepper spray, said it was “insulting” to attempt to bury mention of the protest and its handling.

Source: Pepper-sprayed students outraged as UC Davis tried to scrub incident from web | US news | The Guardian

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